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Western Military District

2010 establishments in RussiaHarv and Sfn no-target errorsMilitary districts of the Russian FederationMilitary units and formations established in 2010
Great emblem of the Western Military District
Great emblem of the Western Military District

The Western Military District (Russian: Западный военный округ) is a military district of Russia. It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction primarily within the western central region of European Russia. The Western Military District was created as part of the 2008 military reforms, and founded by Presidential Decree №1144 signed on September 20, 2010, as an amalgamation of the Moscow Military District, Leningrad Military District and Kaliningrad Special Region. The district began operation on October 20, 2010, under the command of Colonel-General Valery Gerasimov. The Western Military District is the second smallest military district in Russia by geographic size. The district contains 26 federal subjects of Russia: Belgorod Oblast, Bryansk Oblast, Ivanovo Oblast, Kaliningrad Oblast, Kaluga Oblast, Karelia, Kostroma Oblast, Kursk Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, Lipetsk Oblast, Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Novgorod Oblast, Oryol Oblast, Pskov Oblast, Ryazan Oblast, Saint Petersburg, Smolensk Oblast, Tambov Oblast, Tver Oblast, Tula Oblast, Vladimir Oblast, Vologda Oblast, Voronezh Oblast, Yaroslavl Oblast. On 1 December 2014, the Arctic Joint Strategic Command was split off from the Western Military District, removing Arkhangelsk Oblast, Murmansk Oblast, Komi Republic, and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, as well as the Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet and Northern Fleet, from the district's command.The Western Military District is headquartered in the General Staff Building in Saint Petersburg, and its current district commander is Colonel-General Alexander Zhuravlyov, who has held the position since November 2018.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Western Military District (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Western Military District
Большая Морская улица, Saint Petersburg

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Wikipedia: Western Military DistrictContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 59.9381 ° E 30.3172 °
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Address

Арка Главного штаба

Большая Морская улица
191186 Saint Petersburg (Palace District)
Saint Petersburg, Russia
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Great emblem of the Western Military District
Great emblem of the Western Military District
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Palace Square
Palace Square

Palace Square (Russian: Дворцо́вая пло́щадь, tr. Dvortsovaya Ploshchad, IPA: [dvɐˈrtsovəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ]), connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg and of the former Russian Empire. Many significant events took place there, including the Bloody Sunday massacre and parts of the October Revolution of 1917. Between 1918 and 1944, it was known as Uritsky Square (Russian: площадь Урицкого), in memory of the assassinated leader of the city's Cheka branch, Moisei Uritsky. The earliest and most celebrated building on the square, the Baroque white-and-turquoise Winter Palace (as re-built between 1754 and 1762) of the Russian tsars, gives the square its name. Although the adjacent buildings are designed in the Neoclassical style, they perfectly match the palace in their scale, rhythm, and monumentality. The opposite, southern side of the square was designed in the shape of an arc by George von Velten in the late 18th century. These plans came to fruition half a century later, when Alexander I of Russia (reigned 1801–1825) envisaged the square as a vast monument to the 1812–1814 Russian victories over Napoleon and commissioned Carlo Rossi to design the bow-shaped Empire-style Building of the General Staff (1819–1829), which centers on a double triumphal arch crowned with a Roman quadriga. In the centre of the square stands the Alexander Column (1830–1834), designed by Auguste de Montferrand. This red granite column (the tallest of its kind in the world) is 47.5 metres high and weighs some 500 tons. It is set so well that it requires no attachment to the base. The eastern side of the square comprises Alexander Brullov's building of the Guards Corps Headquarters (1837–1843). The western side, however, opens towards Admiralty Square, thus making the Palace Square a vital part of the grand suite of St Petersburg squares.

Pevchesky Bridge
Pevchesky Bridge

The Pevchesky Bridge (Russian: Пе́вческий мост; literally Singers' Bridge), also known as the Choristers' Bridge or Yellow Bridge (Жёлтый Мост, Zholtyi Most), is a single-span bridge across the Moika River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The bridge is a part of the Palace Square. The length of the bridge is 21 metres, and the width is 72 metres. It is the third-widest bridge in Saint Petersburg, after the Blue Bridge and Kazansky Bridge. Before the February Revolution, the term "Choristers’ Bridge" was shorthand for the tsarist foreign ministry, just as the French foreign ministry is known as the Quai d'Orsay.The first wooden bridge on the site was designed by the French architect Auguste de Montferrand; it was inaugurated in 1834. The first pedestrians to cross the bridge were the troops marching to the parade celebrating the unveiling of the Alexander Column (also designed by Montferrand). The bridge got the name Yellow from the color of the railings, and according to the tradition of color-coding the bridges crossing the Moika River (that already had the Blue Bridge, the Green Bridge and the Red Bridge). In 1837, Georg von Cancrin, an imperial minister of finance, proposed to replace the wooden bridge with a much wider cast iron structure. According to legend, Emperor Nicholas I himself chose the location for the bridge. Across the river from the Winter Palace was located the house of Count Yury Alexandrovich Golovkin. Once, Golovkin was in such a hurry to meet the Emperor, that he stepped from the boat transporting him across the Moyka and nearly drowned. Thus, Nicholas stated to Golvkin that he specifically located the bridge close to Golovkin's house, so as not to repeat the accident.The new bridge was designed by architects Vasily Stasov, Domenico Adamini, and engineer E.A. Adam. The bridge was opened on 24 October 1840. The first user of the bridge was Nicholas I himself, who solemnly crossed the new bridge in his horse-drawn coach. The main decoration of the bridge are beautiful cast iron railings, with numerous frills, the main repeating elements being fan-like palmettos.Later, the bridge got the name Pevchesky (literally Singers' bridge), because the Saint Petersburg Court Capella was accommodated nearby. In 1937, the rose-colored paving stones of the bridge were replaced by bitumen. In 2004, the companies Lenmoststroy and Intarsiya undertook restoration works on the bridge.